Chasing Memories
by Rae138
Summary: -"Don't worry my precious, you're safe with me."
1. The Explosion

Disclaimer: I don't own NCIS, or any of the characters, but you can have them back by midnight!

A/N: I wrote it a while back, and had it posted, but I have completely reworked it, and hopefully it's better. I have the next three chapters written, but it will be longer than that, future chapters will also be longer. Anyway... Enjoy :D

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**Chapter One: The Explosion **

Ziva David had worked at NCIS ever since the investigation pending the murder of Special Agent Caitlin Todd. Although she was a good agent, great even; the fact was that her half-brother had killed her best friend, and she was not ready to make any effort to get to know her. She was just a cold-hearted, imperious assassin.

She normally wasn't a judgemental person, however in Abby's defence; the woman was a trained killer that could murder everyone on the team without leaving a trace just as easily as she could run through eighteen red lights in the space of a minute. Incredibly easily.

To say she was puzzled as to why the Mossad agent had listed her as an emergency contact number would be an understatement. She assumed it was a mistake, but Ziva was not a person to make mistakes, so there had to be more to it than that.

Normally, Abby would have freaked out and ran straight to Gibbs, but when she got the call she found herself driving as fast as she could in her Hearse down to the hospital, her hands fumbling around on the steering wheel nervously.

Her breathing was fast and frantic, as she darted down the freeway, overtaking various cars that proceeded to shout obscenities at her through the safety of their windshields. No words could explain why she was so hyped up at the possibility that something bad could have happened to the Israeli, her mind had put it down to her _"sensitivity"_ and_ "caring nature"_. Two things she was certain the ex-Mossad officer did not know the meaning of.

Due to her speed, it was unsurprisingly not long before she reached the main desk in A&E. She spoke to the receptionist who checked her details, before motioning to someone, who walked over towards her, and lead her down the various corridors and up the several staircases. They kept trailing down the hallways until they reached a small room. A small room, with an unconscious woman lying on a bed.

The woman's eyes were closed, but they were twitching and flickering softly. Bandages covered her arms and most of her visible upper-torso; all visible patches of skin were scarred and flushed, and patterned with the hues of pale bruises. Her hair was draped around her face, tracing paths along her cheekbones, and pooling around her neck. The woman shifted in her sleep, causing dark chocolate brown locks to slide softly from her face onto the pillow her head was resting on, revealing a deep gash along her forehead. It looked no more than two inches in length, but the skin surrounding it was singed and bruised, and needless to say seemed very painful.

The Goth wandered aimlessly into the room, gripping the cool edges of the steel frame of the bed, her legs no longer willing to support her body.

She reached a hand out, to push back a few stray hairs from the tanned face, dragging her hand through the tangled dark locks. Now with her cold gaze and strong exterior gone, she looked peaceful in her sleep, friendly even.

Until the nurse ushered her to take a seat in the side of the room, Abby had forgotten that she was there. She was a small woman, with fair brown hair and a ghostly pale complexion; she had perfectly manicured nails and wore a plain gold wedding band on her left hand. She bit on her lip gently as she shuffled through the paperwork in front of her, trying to find the right forms.

She eventually pulled out three pages stapled together, and read through it before opening her mouth to speak. She seemed indifferent to whatever had happened, which annoyed the forensic scientist greatly.

"I'm very sorry miss_..._" she stuttered and looked down at the paper before continuing "Miss Sciuto, it appears that your friend here," she gestured over to the bed "seems to have been caught in an explosion."

_"Explosion?"_ She inhaled a deep breath and leaned forwards as she absent-mindedly started to nibble on her thumbnail, her brain was going through thousands of scenarios, when a voice coming from the corner of the room interrupted her musings.

"Afraid so Abs." She swallowed audibly, before turning her neck to meet the gaze of storm clouded blue eyes.

"Gibbs!" She ran over and engulfed the silver haired man in a hug, surprised to find no one standing behind him.

Several thoughts were racing through her mind; she knew something serious must have happened for Gibbs to leave in the middle of a case. If only she would wake up, then maybe they could get some answers.

"I will come back and check on her soon, you are welcome to stay, but make sure you let us know if her condition changes, there will be a doctor out in the hallway if you need anything." The voice of the nurse filled her ears, as the small woman sent the pair a false smile and made her way out of the room, and down the hallway until she was out of sight.

The old man placed a chaste kiss onto the lab tech's forehead, before releasing her back into the chair. Abby reached a hand out into the bed, and gripped the Israeli's hand. She allowed her gaze to flicker up to the clock hanging on one of the off-white walls, _seven thirty_. This was going to be a long night.

She shifted around in the seat, trying to find a comfortable position, but failed miserably. She settled on leaning forwards and resting her head on the edge of the bed, at least this way she had a pillow, and she was shielded from the glare of the overhead light.


	2. The Escape

A/N: This chapter isn't particularly happy, but it will get a lot more fluffy in later chapters, you just have to bare with me! Enjoy. :)

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**Chapter 2: Escape**

You know who did this, don t you? Abby had been unable to sleep, she was too worked up for that. The young Israeli had slipped back into consciousness at around three in the morning, and by the time a doctor had been to check up on her, it was way past five. She had remained quiet since she woke up, and her gaze had yet to settle on anything other than the ceiling. Gibbs had sat there, studying her, trying to answer his unspoken questions.

Abby turned to watch the younger woman, still waiting for a response. After a long moment she got one, a short breathless sigh emerged from the Israeli s lips, followed by a nod of her head. Her boss was about to ask more questions, but when her glazed eyes met his, he abruptly shut his mouth and sat back in his chair, waiting for her to speak. Ziva surveyed the room once more, paying close attention into making sure no one was outside the room, and that all doors and windows were closed. A single tear rolled out of her right eye, before she was able to compose herself. It was the first time Abby had seen her cry. It would probably be the last, too.

The Mossad officer was aware that her defences were slipping, and she mentally cursed herself for allowing her emotions to show so freely. She knew she was in a weak state, but that had not stopped her from being strong before, and if she wanted to save lives, she would have to be strong now. She had to keep the truth to herself.

It is nothing that you need to worry about she tried her best to sound convincing, and with her blank stare she almost did, however the shaky tone of her voice failed her.

Both of the other two members of the team knew that she was hiding information from them, and they knew it was probably for their own good, but if they didn t know; how could they help her?

"Come on Ziva! We can help you. I know you know that we want to help you, what aren't you telling us?" The lab tech didn't mean to sound as desperate as she did, but she felt so helpless not being able to do anything.

Nobody spoke for what felt like hours, the three of them just sat there, shifting gazes around the room, their eyes occasionally meeting but darting quickly apart again. Questions burned Abby's mind, as she tried to make sense of the situation, but she found herself ending up with more questions and still no answers.

After twenty minutes of sitting in awkward silence, Gibbs had excused himself from the room in order to seek out some decent coffee. He had tried drinking a mug of hospital slosh, but had come to the conclusion that he would have got more caffeine from drinking a glass of rainwater. It would have tasted better too.

Abby had stayed, but after several minutes of hardcore thinking she drifted off to sleep, however her ever-changing position showed that her mind was still not at rest. Ziva studied her as she slept; she could see her bottom lip slightly quivering as she let out silent murmurs. Her hair was strewn over her face, plastered to her cheeks where they had stuck to her tears, entwined with the black streaks trailing over her pale skin.

She sat there for almost thirty minutes watching the older woman, eyes glazing over her whole body, studying her intensely. She looked so tired. She reached out and took the goth s hand in her own, and gave it a gentle squeeze, causing the woman to stir from her sleep.

"Sorry Abby, I did not mean to wake you..." The voice was genuinely apologetic, and something about it caused a small shiver to pass through the older woman s body.

"Talk to me." Abby had meant for it to sound more caring than it did, but it came out as a sharp command giving Ziva the same sensation that she herself had just experienced.

She had never heard Abby be so abrupt or as straight forward as she had just been.

The goth wanted to get a proper explanation, she just had to be persistent and stubborn enough.

Their eyes locked, and they stared at each other for a countless number of seconds before the younger woman s gaze fell to the floor.

"I do not know how to begin." She finally stated with a sigh.

The door creaked open, as a familiar figure walked into view, pulling up a chair to sit next to the injured lady. The smell of freshly brewed coffee filling the room.

"Start with who set up the bomb." Blue eyes twinkled as she shifted her gaze into his. He was determined to get it out of her.

"Gibbs-"

He cut her off with a sharp statement. "God-damn Ziva, who set up the damn bomb?"

He wasn t mad, just curious. He was experienced in interrogations, and he was sure that an aggressive approach would work.

She became suddenly rigid, and she shifted nervously under her sheets. She whispered a name into the air, barely audible, though both Gibbs and Abby heard it fine.

Abby immediately sat up, wide green eyes staring in disbelief. She had always hated that man, and even though she had never gotten on with the woman in front of her, she didn t deserve this.

Gibbs sat back in his chair, resting his hands behind his head and letting out a long sigh. This was going to be a long few days. He pondered the situation, and took another look at the clock on the wall.

"You re not safe here" he murmured.

"They will get me wherever I go Gibbs, it will be impossible to run from them, if I give myself up then I can stop anyone else from getting hurt." She couldn't look him at the eye with what she was saying, partly because she knew he wouldn't want to hear it. It was one thing to go against Gibbs wishes, but it was another thing to suggest handing yourself over to someone who wants you dead.

"No. His eyes focused on her body, he knew she wasn't well enough to fight anytime soon, but he reckoned that she would be ok enough to run, or at least walk, out of the hospital into a safer location. He sure as hell wasn t going to let a group of foreign bastards lay a hand on her.

"No." she shook her head violently from side to side, clutching the side of her neck in pain from the sudden movement. "You do not understand. You are risking too many lives; I am not worth that Gibbs."

"The hell you re not worth it" he stood up as he said it, and made his way to the back of the room. He opened the door as quietly as possible, and poked his head though the gap, observing the hallway. It looked clear.

"I am not going, I don t want to." her reply was limp and half-hearted; Gibbs noticed the pain in her voice. Too bad giving in to her was not an option.

"Then it's good for us that you don't have a say in it" his hand reached out and grabbed a wheelchair, before facing the Israeli again. "It s gonna hurt a lot less if I don t have to pick you up and put it you in it.

Abby took a quick look into her eyes, her slightly annoyed stare saying everything that words didn't. She then turned her gaze to her boss.

"Where are we going Gibbs?"

"You are going home, you are going to sleep and you are going to be in your lab tomorrow morning ready for work." His voice was stern, and he tried to make it clear that it wasn t up for it wasn t up for discussion.

Abby knew better than to refuse Gibbs' orders, but she reluctant to leave Ziva. She had questions of her own that she needed answers to, but something else made her feel responsible for keeping her safe. She knew there wasn t much she could do, but she was willing to try.

He knew how stubborn the goth could be, but if she was listed as an emergency target, there was a chance she was going to be targeted too, and he was sure as hell not going to let anything happen to her. "Basement, I ll meet you there."

She gave him a quick nod, before turning and walking out of the room. Although she was more at ease, she was also more confused. One day ago she couldn t stand being in the same room as the young Israeli, but now she was willing to do anything to protect her.

Gibbs turned back to the woman in the bed once Abby had left.

"If your father so much as lays one finger on you, I shouldn't even need to tell you what's going to happen to him."

Brown hues peered up at him, as she shook her head disbelievingly. He was about to protest when a look of pain masked her face.

He killed her.

He remained calm, as he tried to piece together what was happening. He had hoped she would open up, but right now his top priority was getting her out of here, though those plans would have to wait, after all, there was no guarantee that she would repeat this information anytime soon. "Who?

"Tali had a daughter before she was killed, her name was Sarah. She took a deep breath before continuing I swore to her that I would keep her daughter safe, but when Eli found out he got mad, and he... She forced herself into a sitting position, and turned so her legs were hanging off of the bed. She looked at the man beside her, and after realising he was too in shock to speak, carried on explaining.  
When I found her, I knew he had done it, or at least he had paid someone to. I went to confront him about it, but he told me he had nothing to do with it. At the time there was not much that I could do, so I asked a contact to help me, but until I moved to America, he had not been able to find anything. She paused again, trying to collect her thoughts He emailed me a few weeks ago, telling me he had proof, so I took the evidence and went to confront Eli. He tried to tell me there was a reason for what he had done, he tried to justify it.

The old man stepped forwards and took Ziva in his arms.

I guess he wanted to make sure that I did not say anything. She choked out a quiet laugh, before allowing seriousness to take over again I should have taken better care of her.

It wasn t your fault.

She opened her mouth to speak, but he raised a finger to silence her.

No, listen to me Ziver, you are a damn good agent. There is nothing that you could have done to stop that son of a bitch from killing her. You did everything you could to protect her, your sister d be proud of you. He looked her in the eyes before continuing I m proud of you.

The moment was interrupted by someone bursting in through the door. Gibbs reached for his gun, but was met by an empty holster.

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_Sorry for the cliffhanger, actually, I'm not sorry. :D_


	3. The Idea

**Chapter 3: The Idea**

When both of them realised who had come through the door, they breathed a sigh of relief. Gibbs silently thanked whoever had made him decide to leave his gun in his desk, it would be hard to justify shooting a doctor.

"Is everything okay in here?" The doctor was a middle aged man, he had dark bushy hair, and was acting rather frantically. He walked over to the patient, and tried to lay her back down. "You really should be resting, although there are no serious risks, your injuries are very severe."

Ziva allowed the man to lay her back down, before he started checking over her, to make sure there was nothing wrong. He had left after ten minutes of prodding and poking, and disappeared down the hallway, in order to find her some more pain relief. Gibbs had taken this opportunity to get her out of the hospital, he covered her in his coat, which was long enough to fully disclose the hospital gown, allowing her to exit the building without being questioned.

As they reached his car, he noticed the scared look on her face.

"We will sort this out Ziva, I promise." He added the last part quietly, he wasn't used to making promises. To anyone. A part of him just wished he would be able to keep it, for everyone's sake.

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Abby had been called in by the director, as she was making her way home. She wasn t going to turn up, but a development in the case meant they needed her help as soon as possible. She quickly finished writing up her report of the case; it was pretty open and shut - a faked suicide with only one other set of prints on the gun. It turns out that a marine's wife had once slept with his brother, and he had gotten overly jealous and shot him in a fit of rage.

It was about six in the evening before she started shuffling around the room, following the shutdown procedures for all of her electrical babies. She turned to walk towards the exit as she sipped the very last drops of moisture out of her Caf-Pow cup, savouring the juices in her mouth, before chucking it into the disposable waste and hurrying for the elevator.

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Tony was the only one still there when she went into the bull pen to drop the case file onto Gibbs' desk.

"Where's Gibbs?" She inquired.

"Said he had to check up on something." he replied, in his overly-enthusiastic tone before taking a bite into his pizza, no doubt he was taking advantage of Gibbs being away "Mmm God this is good." A look of pure ecstasy crossed his face as he swallowed before delving in for another bite.

"Oh Tony, you really should shut your mouth when you eat" She reached in and sneakily grabbed a slice of pizza out of the box, giving a small chuckle and a quick wink to her co-worker as she turned to go home. She took a few steps before turning on her heel, to face a jaw-dropped DiNozzo. "Where's McGee?"

"After what you just did I'm not sure I want to tell you!" He looked up at the Goth, with a shocked expression and wide eyes as he reached for his box and tucked it in his arms "Don't worry my precious, you're safe with me, I'll keep the mean, mean lady away from you." His voice was mock hurt, with a hint of his usual sarcasm, as he stroked the box's lid gingerly with his right hand and made a list of soothing whispers, never taking his gaze off of the person in front of him.

Abby raised her eyebrows and placed a hand on her hip, before taking an excruciatingly slow bite of her slice, showing immense signs of pleasure, the look on DiNozzo's face was priceless. "You're right Tony, this pizza is very, _very_ good." She leaned over his desk and licked her lips seductively, laughing inwardly at the ogling face in front of her, as she reached around to slap the man's head. "Now be a good boy and tell me where I can find McGee."

"MTAC." He uttered as his eyes narrowed into a glare. "You are a cruel, cruel woman Miss Sciuto."

The forensic scientist let out a evil laugh as she turned back on her heel and practically skipped over to the elevator, grinning widely.

Assured that no one would see her leaving early, she made her way over to her Hearse. Sure, Gibbs had come into work, but Ziva was nowhere to be seen, and she still wanted answers.

She got into her car and drove, one destination in mind.

* * *

A short while later, Gibbs heard a knock on his door. He raised his eyebrows questioningly at Ziva, who just shrugged and slumped back down into a doze. She had been sleeping on the couch in his basement since they escaped from the hospital earlier in the day.

He placed his bourbon onto his work bench, and cautiously walked up the steps and over to his door. He places his hand readily over the gun strapped to his hip as he looked through the peep hole, before sighing and opening up the door.

"You know you can walk straight in Abbs, It's why I keep the damn thing unlocked." He surveyed the scene behind her before closing the door behind her. She s downstairs, been wondering when you would show up.

"I wasn't sure she'd want to see me" the Goth admitted "Wait, she's been expecting me?" A slight crease appeared on her forehead, how had she known Abby was coming? The scientist hadn't planned on visiting until she knew it was safe. Never mind, she was here now.

* * *

"Hello Abby"

Hospital bandages still her, but they were hidden by one of Gibbs' old NIS t-shirts. Her form was limp, slumped on the sofa, arms splayed out and her head half-buried under a pillow. There was no doubt that she hadn't been able to sleep; but then, how can you when you have the leader of an agency full of highly trained assassins trying to kill you?

Despite that, her eyes shone brightly and her face had started to light up. The cut on her face was looking a lot better now it was cleaned up, but then, it was hard to see anything in detail due to the dim lighting.

"There is something I need to tell you" Ziva's voice was hoarse, and Abby was using all of her will power to stop herself from running up to the younger woman and engulfing her in a massive hug.

Gibbs looked over to the two women, and judgementally squinted before deciding to leave them to it, deciding to go and fix up some food.

He had to admit that he was worried on how Abby was going to take the news. He knew she wasn't completely innocent, but he also knew she wasn't good at coping with much due to her over sensitivity. Though, as long as they came out of it alive and friends, he would be satisfied.

Abby plopped herself down onto the edge of Gibbs workbench, as shifted her gaze around the room until she was staring directly at the Israeli. A sharp green gaze meeting solemn brown eyes.

They sat talking for a while, at first just general small talk, but their conversation had got more in depth as Ziva relayed the events surrounding the past two days. Abby had taken the news well, even for her.

"Umm, I ran the fingerprint scan you gave to me last month" she couldn't help the tears that started to form in her eyes "It matched your father, but I guess you already knew that."

The Goth shifted uncomfortably on the chair, the calmness of Ziva's face unnerved her slightly. Someone, or rather a few someone s, were out to kill her and she looked so relaxed that she could fall asleep at any moment. She tapped her nails on the material of her short plaid skirt almost impatiently; anxious on what the younger woman was going to say. In the year that she had known her, she had never seen her show much emotion to anything really; so she shouldn't be too surprised at the lack of response, nevertheless it bugged her. It bugged her a lot. "You need to tell Gibbs that he s in DC, maybe he ca-"

"No Abby!" She cut the older woman off with a harsh tone "It is best Gibbs does not know."

"Best Gibbs does not know what, Ziver?" The man stepped out from behind the door frame. He had come down to ask if the girls were hungry, now he wished he had waited.

Abby bit into her bottom lip, teeth leaving soft indents on her porcelain skin._ Well, this is awkward._ She opened her mouth to speak, but closed it abruptly after receiving an ice-cold glare from across the room.

The silence loomed in the air for what felt like several minutes before anyone spoke.

* * *

After telling Gibbs about her father being in the area, and about finding his DNA on a bunch of old case files, they had migrated into his kitchen area in order to devise an escape plan.

"If he is here, then he will expect me to find out and leave, so if I stay here then I will be saf-"

She was cut short by an explosion from outside. The window shattered, glass projectiles flew across the room, a blaze of fire shooting up in the air from across the street, as a car sped off. Gibbs instinctively pulled Abby over to where Ziva lay and jumped to shield them from the main blast. Abby pulled herself closer into Ziva, tears from the older woman slipped down onto the Israeli s forehead. Screams erupted from neighbours running out onto the streets, and the sound of a siren could be heard in the distance.

"Still think you're safe here?"

The silver haired man slid off of the two women, and walked over to where his window used to be, peering out into the street.

There was a charred body on the pavement outside his house, although it was badly burnt, he could see it belonged to a woman. A young woman.

He shifted his position slightly and looked down, to see Ziva comforting Abby, who was shaking uncontrollably. "You're not gonna like it, but I got an idea."


End file.
